What does it mean that the love of Christ compels us (2 Corinthians 5:14)?

Only twice is the word here translated "constrained" found in the New Testament. In the other scripture it is used in exactly the same way. Lydia "constrained" Paul and Silas to abide with her (Acts 16:15), just as the two disciples "constrained" our blessed Lord, saying, "Abide with us." It is a strong word, sometimes in classical Greek going so far as to do violence to anyone; and thus it may he understood, in the scriptures referred to, as constraining in the sense of taking no denial. Hence the disciples, as also Lydia, might be said to have compelled compliance with their request from their very urgency. How such a constraint must have delighted the Lord's heart; and with what joy He would respond to a petition so presented. Three other times "constrained" is met with in our English version. (Matt. 14:22; Acts 28:19; 2 Cor. 5:14.) In the first two the word means to force or compel. The Lord "forced" the disciples to get into a ship, using His authority to compel them to do as He commanded; and Paul was "forced" by the circumstances, as he thought, seeing no other way out of the difficulty, to appeal unto Caesar. Peter uses the same word in another form when he exhorts the elders to take the oversight of the flock of God, not by constraint, not as being "forced" to do it, but willingly. The last example is where the apostle Paul says, "The love of Christ constraineth us." Here the word is quite different, and is translated in Luke 22:63 "held" "the men that held Jesus." And this is exactly the meaning; and consequently the apostle sets forth that the love of Christ "held" or possessed him in such a way as to leave no other option than that of entire devotedness to Christ. It will be seen, therefore, that while the word means to hold, the moral idea is well conveyed by "constrain." Blessed state for any of us to be in, it may be added, when the love of Christ so dominates our souls as to constrain us to live for Him and for Him alone, unto Him who has died for us and risen again! E. D.

Only twice is the word here translated "constrained" found in the New Testament. In the other scripture it is used in exactly the same way. Lydia "constrained" Paul and Silas to abide with her (Acts 16:15), just as the two disciples "constrained" our blessed Lord, saying, "Abide with us." It is a strong word, sometimes in classical Greek going so far as to do violence to anyone; and thus it may he understood, in the scriptures referred to, as constraining in the sense of taking no denial. Hence the disciples, as also Lydia, might be said to have compelled compliance with their request from their very urgency. How such a constraint must have delighted the Lord's heart; and with what joy He would respond to a petition so presented. Three other times "constrained" is met with in our English version. (Matt. 14:22; Acts 28:19; 2 Cor. 5:14.) In the first two the word means to force or compel. The Lord "forced" the disciples to get into a ship, using His authority to compel them to do as He commanded; and Paul was "forced" by the circumstances, as he thought, seeing no other way out of the difficulty, to appeal unto Caesar. Peter uses the same word in another form when he exhorts the elders to take the oversight of the flock of God, not by constraint, not as being "forced" to do it, but willingly. The last example is where the apostle Paul says, "The love of Christ constraineth us." Here the word is quite different, and is translated in Luke 22:63 "held" "the men that held Jesus." And this is exactly the meaning; and consequently the apostle sets forth that the love of Christ "held" or possessed him in such a way as to leave no other option than that of entire devotedness to Christ. It will be seen, therefore, that while the word means to hold, the moral idea is well conveyed by "constrain." Blessed state for any of us to be in, it may be added, when the love of Christ so dominates our souls as to constrain us to live for Him and for Him alone, unto Him who has died for us and risen again! E. D.

With Paul the love of Christ was not a constraint from fetters outside, as when he was bound to a soldier, but a constant hold of Christ on the heart, saying, "I am led captive by Christ; that love of His binds me like a fetter and makes me go as a captive whither He would." It was not Paul's love but Christ's.

The text which has been one of the most powerful in my life is 2 Cor. 5 which says, "he [the Lord Jesus] died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again" (v.15). These words make clear what is the desire of the Lord Jesus for us. From the moment He reached down and rescued us from sin and misery and made us His own, we live not unto ourselves, but unto Him who died for us and rose again, and where is to be found the power for such a life? It lies in the previous verse, "the love of Christ constraineth us" (v.14). What that verse in fact says is that the love of Christ controls the way we think of things if it rightly exercises its power over us, because it continues, "because we thus judge...... that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again".

There is a constraint — a compelling power — in the love of Christ. Under that constraint there is a spontaneity of progress and response. We have experienced the compassionate love of Christ. Our hearts have been touched by it and we are Christians because it has laid hold of us. If the truth of Christianity is to be practised and maintained by us we need the constraining love of Christ to motivate us.

In the course of the Epistle the Apostle gives us a taste of some of this precious fruit. Turning to 2 Corinthians 5:14, that "the love of Christ constrains us." Here the love of Christ is presented as the true motive for all ministry, whether to saints or sinners. The greatest expression of that love was His death. "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Again we read, "Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it." With such love before his soul the Apostle can well say, "that they which live should not henceforth live to themselves but to Him which died for them and rose again." In the light of this Scripture we may well challenge our hearts as to the motive that actuates us in all our service. Is it the love of Christ that constrains us, or is it the love of self? Are we living to ourselves, or are we living "to Him", and thus, like Him, willing to forget self in order to serve others in love? One has said, "Alas! how often have we to reproach ourselves with going on in a round of Christian duty, faithful in general intention, but not flowing from the fresh realization of the love of Christ to our soul." (J.N.D.).

But Paul was not always in an ecstasy Godward. He also knew well how to look out with sober-minded wisdom upon the interests of his Lord. Then he cared in a calculating way for the people of God, the Corinthians among them. And in this, as much as in the other, the love of Christ was the power that wrought within him and constrained him. That love had been expressed in His death, and it exerted its pressure on Paul, both in his affections toward God and His saints, and also as guiding his judgment. Constrained by the love, he was able to judge aright as to the significance of the death in which the love was expressed.

Christ "died for all." Here we have His death stated in its widest extent. He did not die for the Jew merely nor for any lesser circle than "all." This is a fact in which we may well rejoice, but what does it imply? This, that all were in a state of spiritual death: all were but dead men before God. This was the implication of His death.

Hence, another blessed product of the constraining love of Christ is that they live unto Him. Thus the apostle in Philippians 1:21 says, "For to me to live is Christ." The One who loved him was the governing Object of his life. Where that constraining love is known there is deliverance from self-occupation. The Christian, in the drawing power of that love which "passeth knowledge," is Christ centred. We are all, from the youngest to the oldest, tested here. Is it self or Christ? If we have been constrained by His deathless love to apply the truth of the cross to ourselves we shall likewise be drawn to find in Him an Object outside of ourselves, One who so commands us; so absorbs us; that we cannot help living unto Him. We shall experience the liberty and spontaneity of responsive love. We shall not love because we ought; we shall not serve because we should. There is no legal, servile, bondage here. We shall love, we shall serve, we shall live to Him because we cannot help it. The constraint of His love which on the one hand reduces us to the lowest level, so blesses us that we respond to Him as the flower opens to the rising sun.

The spring and source of all true devotedness is divine love filling and operating in our hearts: as Paul says, "the love of Christ constraineth us." Its form and character must be drawn from Christ's actings. Hence grace must first be known for oneself, for thus it is I know love. Thus it is that this love is shed abroad in the heart. We learn divine love in divine redemption. This redemption sets us too, remark, in divine righteousness before God. Thus all question of merit, of self-righteousness, is shut out, and self-seeking in our labour set aside. "Grace," we have learnt, "reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ." The infinite perfect love of God towards us has wrought; has done so when we were mere sinners; has thought of our need; given us eternal life in Christ when we were dead in sins - forgiveness and divine righteousness when we were guilty; gives us now to enjoy divine love, to enjoy God by His Spirit dwelling in us, and boldness in the day of judgment, because as Christ, the judge, is, so are we in this world. I speak of all this now in view of the love shewn in it. True, that could not have been divinely without righteousness. That is gloriously made good through Christ, and the heart is free to enjoy God's unhindered love: a love shewn to men in man. For the very angels learn "the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us in Christ Jesus." This knits the heart to Christ, bringing it to God in Him, God in Him to us. We say nothing separates us from this love.

237 The first effect is to lead the heart up, thus sanctifying it we bless God, adore God, thus known; our delight, adoring delight, is in Jesus. But thus near to God and in communion with Him, thus not only united, but consciously united, to Christ by the Holy Ghost, divine love flows into and through our hearts. We become animated by it through our enjoyment of it. It is really "God dwelling in us," as John expresses it; "his love shed abroad in our hearts," as Paul does. It flows thus forth as it did in Christ. Its objects and motives are as in Him, save that He Himself comes in as revealing it. It is the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord; not the less God, but God revealed in Christ, for there we have learnt love. Thus, in all true devotedness, Christ is the first and governing object; next, "His own which are in the world"; and then our fellow-men. First their souls, then their bodies, and every want they are in. His life of good to man governs ours, but His death governs the heart, "Hereby know we love because he laid down his life for us." "The love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but to him who died for them, and rose again."

2 Cor. 5: 15. Now the whole world were dead in trespasses and sins: "He died for all, that they which live," etc. That is the life of the soul that would recognize His love. Do you love great things? Ah! the greatest thing in the world is, that I should live to him — by constraint, if you please; but it was, "The love of Christ constraineth me," that the thought of the heart should be, "There is nobody worthy but the Lord Jesus Christ." "He, the Son of God, has looked down from heaven, and told me that He, the Nazarene, that I thought not worth while thinking about, is up there in glory, and He wants me (Paul) to go and serve Him; and I will go and serve Him." The hearts that were full of Christ would go and speak everywhere of Christ. Here Paul, going about from one place to another, is led captive by Christ Paul saw the heart that loved him was the same. We might be placed in His providence to sweep a crossing, or be in a cellar all day long; but all the love of Christ is there in the heart, and the heart in that way made partaker of the life of Christ. It is a lantern, and it shines out, out into all the circumstances you are in; it all shines in the love of Christ. Nothing can extinguish that when the heart is walking in faithfulness to God according, to his position.